Straightened, renforced and added toothbar to FEL bucket

Hi Everyone: I would like to share the mods that I did to my FEL bucket on my JD 420 loader. The bucket had been bent and beat up even before I bought it. The previous owner was a rock mason. The sides and top were dinged pretty bad. I hammered out the dings a couple months ago and didn't take pictures. I used two sledge hammers, one as a backer and the other to hammer. The dings were mostly gone but the top of the bucket was wavy (see Bent Bucket.jpg). I straightened the bucket using a Hi-Low jack. I bent the bucket a little past straight and let it flex back (see straight bucket.jpg). Next I cut and cleaned up a piece of 1/4" scrap (Bucket and scrap prepared for welding.jpg) and tacked it to the top edge of the bucket. I had to clamp and tack every few inches and do alot of hammering but it is a lot straighter than it was (see scrap tacked on.jpg. Next I welded the piece on solid and filled the gap where the bucket was rounded on the top (see fill weld on top of scrap.jpg). Then I ground a rounded edge on the top of the scrap to make it look more like the factory rounded edge (see filled and blended top edge.jpg).

Actually I this whole project started when I tried to add a tooth bar. I started working on the tooth bar, got caught up in the reinforcing and then went back to the tooth bar. I bought a 6 ft tooth bar from a local dealer and shortened it. It was a lot a work and if I had to do it over again I would just have bought the parts and made my own tooth bar. Live and learn I guess. Anyway the bar was too long and since I don't like to waste anything and like things to be symmetrical I cut off both ends ground off two of the teeth and re welded them back on evenly spaced (see symmetrical tooth bar.jpg). After I had cut and welded the tooth bar I noticed the it had a bad bow to it (see bowed tooth bar.jpg). Some guys on this forum claim that they can stand on a 1/2" by 4" bar to bend it but my mere 230 lbs couldn't bend it so I used the tractor (see Straightening tooth bar.jpg). I stacked up blocks under the bar and ran over it with the tractor. I kept adding blocks and driving over it until it was almost perfect. Not being satisfied with almost perfect I ran over it one more time and bent it too far the other way. Oh well. I turned it over and bent it back but I couldn't get it a good as it was. I welded reinforcement plates for the tooth bar bolts and drilled a 5/8 hole. The wholes were off a little since I had used the bent tooth bar to mark them. I had to fill the holes with weld and I burned new holes with the Plasma cutter. I bought a Millermatic 251 mig welder and a Miller Spectrum 625 Plasma cutter halfway through this project. (see aluminum backing plate.jpg, plasma circle jig test.jpg, scribing the holes.jpg, scribed hole with pilot.jpg, and plasma jig hight.jpg)
The whole size was perfect in the 24 gauge test stock but was I burned through the 3/8 thick reinforced bucket the burn was tapered and I had to use a rat tail file to enlarge the hole.

When I shorten the tooth bar I was careful to make it a loose fit. When I bolted it in I used washers between the bucket and the tooth bar to maintain the spacing. I used jam nuts to lock the nuts and protect the threads but the bolts are not completely tight. The loose fit and loose bolts allows the tooth bar to be moved forward and pivoted up and out of the way for back grading. (see tooth bar forward.jpg, toothbar seated.jpg, toothbar bolts.jpg and Tooth bar folded up 2.jpg)

It is too cold to paint now. I think that I will send the bucket out to get blasted before I paint it. It will be a lot of work to clean it up. I plan to remove the center hooks to make room for a grapple. Well here it is ready for work and or paint. (see Bucket ready for cleanup2.jpg)
Marshall

Re: Straightened, renforced and added toothbar to FEL bucket

Hi Everyone: I used the new tooth bar the other day and I found a flaw in the design. I had the Tooth bar folded up and I was using the bucket to smash down some used barbed wire into a dump trailer. While it was folded up it slipped down into the back of the bucket and jammed in place. I had to unbolt it and use a pry bar to get it out.
I cut some of the cut off end pieces of the tooth bar and welded them on to the side of the end teeth. The tooth bar is made from ware resistant steel like the teeth and had a convenient bevel on it. The bevels didn't match exactly but it will ware in.
Now the widened teeth keep the tooth bar from folding back too far. Like I said before if I do this again I will build a tooth bar from scratch and set the end teeth so that the bar will not get stuck in the bucket.
Marshall

Re: Straightened, renforced and added toothbar to FEL bucket

Originally Posted by kubotalinc

I know this is going to sound stupid but what would a tooth bar be used for?

Hi: If your bucket edge is 60" and you dig into the ground the entire force is spread out over the 60". I will take a wild guess at the actual force, let's say 2000lb. Divide 2000 by 60 and you get 33.33lb per linear inch. My tooth bar has nine 2" teeth plus two 1/2" extensions. That equals 19" of edge. 2000 divided by 19 equals 105.26lb per linear inch. By using a tooth bar you effectively concentrate the available force. This make breaking into hard packed dirt or gravel driveway easier. Also a tooth bar makes it easier to pick rocks out of the dirt. A straight bucket edge will likely only contact the rock at one point. With a tooth bar most likely two teeth will engage the rock effectively doubling the contact area and making it easier to pop the rock out of the soil. Another way I plan to use my tooth bar is to root out scrub brush and mutiflora rose bushes. I can and have dug them out with my bucket but the teeth will snag the roots easier and bring up less dirt.
The draw backs are a tooth bar is not so good for back grading, not so good for loose material, and they stick out in front of the bucket making it more likely that you will inadvertently snag something when you are driving around (That's the main reason I made mine so that it will fold up.).
Thanks for asking,
Marshall